PRISONS - DRUG COURT PLAN SHOULD BE INCLUDED

Conspicuously absent from the options state lawmakers are mulling to
relieve prison crowding is creating a system of drug courts -- to relieve
crowding and reduce crime.

Corrections Commissioner Robert Johnson met with state lawmakers Monday and
discussed three options:

Do nothing and let the number of prisoners reach 22,097 by 2004 -- 906 more
than expected beds can hold.

Give early release to inmates with non-violent and drug crimes for time off
for good behavior, with the number reaching 21,593 by 2004 -- 402 more than
capacity.

Let non-violent and drug crime inmates earn good time and be paroled —
resulting in a surplus of 1,069 beds.

But, what about crime prevention?

Amending the so-called "Truth in Sentencing" law, requiring inmates to
serve 85 percent of their sentences, is a given. It must be done. The state
cannot build prisons fast enough to warehouse the numbers this law produces.

But lawmakers must also heed the concern Mississippians had about crime
that prompted the 85-percent rule.

Deterrence, rehabilitation, restitution and, more important, crime
prevention should be guiding principles.

Drug courts fit right in. They have the multiplying effect of relieving
prison crowding while saving taxpayers' money while providing
rehabilitation and reducing crime.

With early release and other sentencing options, punishment can fit the
crime -- safely, efficiently, effectively.